Mebane’s planning board gave an enthusiastic endorsement this week to two townhouse developments that are being proposed by separate developers along North First Street.
Both received unanimous, 5-0 votes from the planning board and will be on the city council’s agenda at the next meeting on July 11.
The two projects are the first two – and the two smallest – among a group of four subdivisions being proposed along both sides of North First Street (NC 119) between the Food Lion shopping center at Stagecoach Road and the Mill Creek subdivision and golf course on the north side of the city.
The planning board heard David Michaels outline the plans for a 42-home subdivision on about 20 acres at the corner of Stagecoach Road and North First Street. Michaels is with Land Acquisition and Development Services, a subsidiary of Windsor Homes, which has built many developments in the Triad, including several in Mebane.
[Story continues below photo, layout, and city zoning map of the Potter’s Mill townhouse subdivision.]
The plan envisions what Michaels described as “twin townhomes” – i.e., formerly known as duplexes – along two cul-de-sacs that would be entered from North First Street. There are four single townhomes, with the other 38 in pairs of two, each with a two-car garage.
Michaels said the townhouses would be similar to a development Windsor Homes (the construction part of the company) has built in High Point.
Michaels outlined at some length the “challenging site” with its topographical difficulties. He said his company had considered a much more intensive development of as many as 130 townhouses before scaling back to the proposed level of 42.
He outlined that the “developable portion” of the heavily wooded acreage is in the center of the property. He also noted that the site is very isolated and would not connect to any other subdivision.
He described the townhouses as likely being about 2,000 square feet and probably selling in the “upper $300’s to over $400,000.”
While Michaels described the homes as appealing to older buyers (“retired couples,” he suggested, as the “typical buyer”), there is no age restriction, per se, on home ownership.
The townhouses are a “unique style,” with first floor living space, although there are some with second floors, as well, he said.
A fenced dog park is one of the amenities on the site.
Michaels said he was aware of no opposition to the proposed subdivision, and none was voiced during a period for public comments.
The proposed rezoning recommendation was adopted 5-0.
Another townhouse development to be built nearby
The second townhouse development which the planning board considered Monday night was North First Street Townes, 150 two-story townhouses with one-car garages.
[Story continues below photograph, layout of development and Mebane’s current zoning map of the area for North First Street Townes.]
Tony Tate, a spokesman for Kirkpatrick & Associates in Durham, outlined his company’s plans for a larger site of 30.55 acres on the western side of NC 119/North First Street, near the city’s new Cates Farm Park.
Tate explained that the developer intended to leave existing trees around the perimeter of the property. In fact, about 10 acres on the south side of a stream that runs through the property, and which backs to an existing subdivision, would be left undisturbed.
Amenities would include a children’s playground, a dog run, and a butterfly garden, Tate explained.
The townhouses were described as likely to have 1,600 square feet with three bedrooms (all upstairs), 2½ baths, and a one-car garage.
Tate explained the architectural detail of have staggered vertical and/or horizontal elements so that the townhouses do not look too uniformly in a line. Tate was less certain of his development’s likely appeal, saying it would be “all across the spectrum” but without a “dominant buyer profile.”
He said a homeowner’s association would be established, one of whose duties would be to enforce a restriction against on-street parking. The developer is providing additional off-street parking in order to ensure that residents will not use the streets for parking, he said.
Tate estimated that the price when constructed would be “well into the 300’s.”
Planning board members were favorably impressed and, as with the earlier proposal, unanimously recommended in favor of the requested rezoning, 5-0.
It, too, will be on the city council’s agenda for consideration on July 11.
See story on two other, even larger projects, also along North First Street, that are proceeding through the review and approval process:
